In Online Chats, A GOP Campaign Official ‘Joked’ About Murdering Black-Americans

Bennett Bressman claims his views have changed since he made the comments. They were written as recently as June 2018.

The statewide field director of Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts’ 2018 reelection campaign says he has “more compassion for small dogs than illegals” and that his “whole political ideology revolves around harming journalists,” according to TPM.

Bennett Bressman, a 22-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, also uses the n-word with abandon, said he would considered running down a Black Lives Matter protester, and enjoys telling jokes about the Holocaust.

TPM said a “shocking trove of leaked private messages Bressman sent over Discord, an online gaming platform popular with white nationalists, were surfaced Sunday by Anti-Fascist Action Nebraska.”

Using the handle “bress222,” the Republican political operative reportedly left more than 3,000 comments on the fan page of white nationalist YouTuber Nicholas Fuentes’ show America First.

Despite the fact that his comments were made as recently as summer of last year, Bressman told the Lincoln Journal-Star that he no longer holds these “really bad” views.

“It makes me sick to my stomach to go back and read,” Bressman said. “There’s a big disconnect between those words and who I am. I am disgusted by them and a lot of what I said is sick and twisted.”

Those views are indeed sick and twisted.

TPM notes:

Bressman expresses his allegiance to white nationalist ideology, claiming that “the white race is dying” and sharing memes about “becoming a fascist” as a result of his “research.” Bressman explicitly encourages his fellow travelers to seek posts in local government and “take this whole apparatus over.”

Ricketts condemned Bressman’s views in a statement.

“I am shocked and horrified to learn that this former staffer made these statements and I had no idea he harbored these feelings. He never expressed these views to me. I condemn these statements and this hateful worldview, which do not reflect my beliefs or the beliefs of Nebraskans.”

Likewise, NEGOP Executive Director Ryan Hamilton said Bressman’s views “abhorrent” and that he would have been fired immediately had they become known during the campaign.

“Had the Party been aware he harbored those beliefs, he never would have been permitted to volunteer and had the Party become aware of them during his time as an intern, he would have been terminated immediately,” Hamilton told local media.